I like how the inks give a warmth and an edge to the images.The massive oracular stone at the top of the cover intimates the high window of Doctor Strange’s home. It also draws our sight to the center before we expand out. From bat pedestal to candles to clocks. Geez, even a Karloff inspired monster/servant. The scribe at the heart of it seems to have emerged from the mind of a Poe or a Blackwood. However the tome on the desk brings the whole context into perspective.
In this cover image, the use of color creates two unseen fires. The one behind the captive’s head and the one off stage at the other end of the rope. Not to mention these infantile looking monsters which give the piece just the right edge of perversity.
The rough slight textures and reddened skies makes me think of Bill Sienkiewicz or Ashley Wood. It is a good pay-off when you realize what you have just missed seeing. Through a simple chain of subdued sinister images, an wonderful obtuse story is told vertically.
Tom Sutton deserves for a retrospective to be done of his work; his work is singular.
In true fugue fashion, here’s a tangental connection!
The Synesthetic Fugue Incident 